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Recently I bought a Kawai CS9, a beauty digital piano. My wife and kids like it very much. However we are not impressed by the quality of Kawai. The piano was delivered by a local dealer on Saturday. At Monday night we noticed that there was strange noise from some 15 keys (piano was powered off). It sounded like the keys touched something inside, for example, a cable. Those key felt also differently. I e-mailed this problem to the dealer. On the next day, we found that the cover of the piano is not completely polished. There was a very narrow black and non-reflective bar on the cover across the entire length of the piano. If I clean it with wet cloth, the cloth turned black. I e-mailed this problem to the dealer too. The dealer is very customer friendly and cooperative. They contacted Kawai Germany.

After two weeks, two Kawai engineer came to my house to fix the piano. They found that the painting problem could be fixed by polishing it with some sort of chemical stuff. They took all the wooden boards above the keyboard apart. By doing that the keyboard problem was immediately gone. After some experiment they found that the keyboard problem was caused by the wooden bar above the keyboard. It was mounted a bit too close to the keyboard. Therefore it gave the keyboard too much pressure. The solution was to raise the bar a bit as well as the board above it. Finally the two problems were solved. But, when the engineers tried to put everything back, they could not find one of the screws. We searched everywhere but just could not find it. Very sadly, they didn't have backup parts with them. At the end they had to remove/borrow a screw from a "not important" place and put it on an important place.

Now the piano is working as it should be. We are happy with it. However, that missing screw has not yet shown up. Maybe as the engineers said “maybe that screw was missing out of factory".

This is my first experience with the quality and service of Kawai. Is this business as usual for Kawai? No sorry, no apology, you have a problem, we come fix it. That is!

If you plan to buy a Kawai digital piano, double check everything, better make a X-ray photo so that you can check the screws too.

(there was something wrong with the product and it was fixed at your place- they took their time to get it done properly it seems - apart from the singe screw that was lost. It's always a disappointment if somethings is wrong with a new purchase, but if the problem gets solved in a reasonable time frame and at no cost and no effort of your own, other than having to stay at home - then what else is wrong ?)

@JFPNo problem at all! Nothing is wrong! Everything is perfect!It was my fault. If I didn't buy this piano then they didn't have to spend their valuable time to visit me and fix their product. I should not look at the single missing screw. There are still many many screws that are not missing. If the product was perfect how could I get the chance en experience this wonderful service?

Maybe I should quantify my experience so that you won't get it wrong again.

You should expect zero defects when you buy a new product, any product. But it much more aggravating when the product is relatively expense, as this one is. This product had multiple manufacturing defects that reveal errors in assembly, finishing, and final inspection. A serious failure of manufacturing quality control.

The fact that Kawai had to send technicians to your home to correct the problems was an inconvenience to you. (I would have asked for a replacement product to be sent instead.) If the technicians weren't sure if the missing screw was originally missing from the factory, or if they had misplaced it during the repair (it could be sitting somewhere potentially damaging inside the piano now) that's a problem with their competence to do the repair work. It is unclear from your description whether the repair to the keyboard was a makeshift solution or simply repositioning something to its proper design location that was done incorrectly at the factory. If it was a makeshift solution that would be totally unacceptable to me.

Hopefully, everything has now been corrected to the original design and factory manufacturing standards, aside from the remaining missing screw. Hopefully they will send you a replacement screw and you can replace it yourself without another inconveniencing visit from the technicians. But I think you are owed a letter of apology from the company and an offer of a warranty extension or some other non-monetary compensation for their poor performance and your inconvenience.

it's not that there's nothing to complain when you buy a new product and something is wrong, but in real live this happens all the time, with all kind of products and brands. No matter how expensive. If you've never had a flaw in any new product you bought, price yourself very lucky !! Then the next step is, how the problem is solved. In my view and from your description , it seems that they took care of your complaints and fixed it. Only they lost one screw along the way. I don't think any other brand would have done anything else. You could have opted for a recplacement unit if you would have really pushed it, but is that really worth all the trouble when the problem can be fixed in place without having to disassemble and repackage the unit and assemble a new one ?

Oh ...and some of us here always have the opinion that every bit of dust or slightest unevenness is totally (!) unacceptable (repeats in every thread). I don't think that's a fair and realistic world view, but hey... everybody has a right to his/her own opinion...cheers, J

Edit: don't get me wrong, I would be disappointed very much as well in the beginning when my new product arrived with several problems. But if its fixed and put behind, then it's time to forget it and enjoy the instrument. Otherwise it'll just keep on spoiling the fun...

I sometimes think that even with the best intentions , brands can hardly control everything that happens on the (outsourced) factory floors in our mass-production society. Parts are often coming from so many different suppliers and even putting the product together happens often in different factories, or in a factory we're a zillion other - mostly unrelated - products are also produced. Ideally a product would be designed, produced and checked in place at the companies headquarter by their own personnel. Unfortunately in 2012 that's a utopian view.

Considering the range of products with flaws I have received over the last few years ranging from kitchen equipment , car parts, TV's, speakers, synths, audio-interfaces, computers, hard drives, SSD's , memory modules, DP's, push bikes, etc I am now always anticipating that I have to exchange products , or get them fix - even before they arrive ! So many brands and products have failed, that I think it's part of the industry right now and the most important part is how the problems are solved in the end and how quickly. And that includes many expensive A-brands too - price is no longer a certainty for ultimate perfection. Sorry that I have to shatter that dream. Blaming Kawai, or Korg in particular makes no sense in my view. In our modern world you never know what you get for sure with any brand in consumer products , unless it's designed, made and checked by some skilled insiders in a small company or institution.

Should we expect better quality (control) from the manufacturers: yes please. Is that realistic in our complicated world: I think not. So a forum is a valuable way to find out production flaws quickly by comparing experiences and search together (consumers + manufacturers) for a fix. Just proclaiming everything that pops up as totally unacceptable will (IMHO) not change a lot for the better. It only gives bad vibes...

Then brace yourself for many disappointments that will follow , hardly any major product release for the last few years has been without flaws that were detected afterwards or simply overlooked. I think the most you can do in that respect is never buy a product that has just been introduced, but always wait for later production runs (with revisions) or buy something that has been on the market for a while, is a bit outdated, but has proved itself . In the end the manufacturer is responsible , but playing the blame game is going to change exactly nothing about this situation, cause its part of the fast moving globalized world we're living in with fast moving product cycles, outsourced production lines , complicated supply lines, calculating managers (!) , long logistic trajectories and the list goes on.

I would like it to be different, but after encountering so many problems in products from so many different brands and in so many different categories, I think expecting everything to be always working 100% out of the box every time is no so self-evident as it was perhaps 10 or 20 years ago. As long as the wrongs are put right in the end and in a reasonable timeframe - and that is we're the difference in brand quality also comes to the surface.

Then brace yourself for many disappointments that will follow , hardly any major product release for the last few years has been without flaws that were detected afterwards or simply overlooked.

Unfortunately, this is true. So long as those engaged in the physical aspects of production are geographically, economically and socially divorced from those who purchase and use the products, this will be the norm. How can one expect the almost-slave-labor-condition workers in the giant Chinese factories to care about the products they will probably never be able to afford? In one sense it's remarkable that there are not more problems and failures.

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I think the most you can do in that respect is never buy a product that has just been introduced, but always wait for later production runs (with revisions) or buy something that has been on the market for a while, is a bit outdated, but has proved itself .

To me, this is the byproduct of inadequate computer software development, resulting in early-adopter consumers becoming unwitting beta-testers. This mentality has carried over into other product areas more recently, with manufacturers rushing out products before all the bugs have been ironed out, simply because consumers will now accept this as the new norm.

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In the end the manufacturer is responsible , but playing the blame game is going to change exactly nothing about this situation, cause its part of the fast moving globalized world we're living in with fast moving product cycles, outsourced production lines , complicated supply lines, calculating managers (!) , long logistic trajectories and the list goes on.

Yes, the manufacturer is responsible, but in a wider sense we all bear responsibility for this state of affairs. We have all become rather greedy. The producer is greedy for extra profit, the shareholders are greedy for dividends, the end-user is greedy for expecting to pay very little for the most amazing devices. I know I've become used to a luxury of consumption that I could never have dreamed of years ago as globalization has decimated the relative price of "durable" goods.

_________________________"you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian"

"... brands can hardly control everything that happens on the (outsourced) factory floors ..."Doesn't matter. Outsourcers can do the same job as insourcers. And they will, if there is demand.

"Blaming Kawai, or Korg in particular makes no sense in my view."It makes perfect sense. When I buy from a maker, that maker is responsible, not anyone else.

I don't see or know the outsourced/subcontracted companies. I'm only doing business with the one maker. He alone is responsible for getting things right.

I won't lower my expectations.

+1 too!

Expectation is one thing and attitude is another. A long story about outsourced assembly line, subcontractors and etc. should not be the excuses for bad quality control. Unfinished polishing and keyboard problem says something about the quality of the products. Technicians doing reparations came without spare parts says something about the quality of the service. Together it is the attitude of the manufacture for their products and customers. This is also the reason why I rated a 4 for the service. In fact Kawai doesn't think a missing screw is a problem. It is the shop where I bought the piano wanted to send someone to me to put the screw on (1 hour drive). That's a 5 star service!

from their site: Every Roland digital piano is carefully assembled one by one. We’ve adopted the “cell production system,” in which one person is responsible for assembling a product from start to finish, increasing efficiency and assuring pride in workmanship and an extraordinarily high standards of quality.

If one company can do this, all of them can do this!

I really think that just expecting to buy something that will need fixing within days or weeks of taking it home is ludicrous. We should expect to get value for our money (and paying a bit more for it is hunky dory in my book.)

Thumbs up for Roland then, but I'm afraid there are not many Roland's around. And...their products are indeed more expensive in comparisson to some other brands. That may say something, but is also a risk for Roland, cause people seem to expect both a low price and the best quality. On the other and price doesn't say everything: I've had several premium price A products the last few years, all with flaws and problems. Googling around showed it were not single incidents and only my bad luck - although I seem to have a talent for getting the wrong boxes all of the time ;-)

Of course there are some companies that do everything exactly right, but 1) they are a minority 2) they are almost always more pricey (no contradiction with my previous statement that price doesnt say everything; both are true)

I wish you could order any product without a doubt , but my experience and from people around is that that is simply no the case. In that is not only a few brands that are to blame, I don't think that's totally fair.

It's interesting that you mention Roland, because in my experience their product quality does seem to be a cut above the norm. That is not to say that I've had a bad experience with other DP manufacturers (certain Italian producers excepted), but the premium you sometimes pay for Roland does seem to be reflected in the physical quality of the product.

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If one company can do this, all of them can do this!

I really think that just expecting to buy something that will need fixing within days or weeks of taking it home is ludicrous. We should expect to get value for our money (and paying a bit more for it is hunky dory in my book.)

The whole disposable culture of goods needs to go.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. I had a classic example of the problem with a microwave installed in a brand new house. It lasted 13 months before fizzling out, whereas a freestanding one from the 1980s is still going strong. And, from a little bit of Googling, I discovered that this is a million miles from being an isolated incident.

However, it will take a cultural shift for this to be remedied. Many corporations now seem to exist only for themselves. Products are almost incidental, and customers are a nuisance unless they quietly and uncomplainingly keep opening their wallets. However, I really don't believe that this is the case for companies like Kawai. Although there are some irritating marketing practices, Kawai generally produces a very good product. A lot of the complaints seen on this forum are aired here in large part due to the presence of Kawai James (who really does care). They have had issues that result from transporting delicate but heavy products worldwide, but have addressed those problems in a timely manner.

This thread deals in part with poor finish. I can't recall having seen another post about that in recent times. Clearly, QC wasn't as effective as it should have been in this instance, and there may be pressure at the factory to occasionally overlook things that will affect production figures and times but, unless it becomes a regular occurrence, I don't think Kawai should be pilloried for it if, as they have done, they address the issue to the customer's satisfaction. I agree it shouldn't happen in the first place, but we live in a world where everyone expects everything yesterday and at a bargain price.

_________________________"you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian"

You should expect zero defects when you buy a new product, any product. But it much more aggravating when the product is relatively expense, as this one is. This product had multiple manufacturing defects that reveal errors in assembly, finishing, and final inspection. A serious failure of manufacturing quality control.

The fact that Kawai had to send technicians to your home to correct the problems was an inconvenience to you. (I would have asked for a replacement product to be sent instead.) If the technicians weren't sure if the missing screw was originally missing from the factory, or if they had misplaced it during the repair (it could be sitting somewhere potentially damaging inside the piano now) that's a problem with their competence to do the repair work. It is unclear from your description whether the repair to the keyboard was a makeshift solution or simply repositioning something to its proper design location that was done incorrectly at the factory. If it was a makeshift solution that would be totally unacceptable to me.

Hopefully, everything has now been corrected to the original design and factory manufacturing standards, aside from the remaining missing screw. Hopefully they will send you a replacement screw and you can replace it yourself without another inconveniencing visit from the technicians. But I think you are owed a letter of apology from the company and an offer of a warranty extension or some other non-monetary compensation for their poor performance and your inconvenience.

The wooden bar above the keyboard has some room to be shifted up en down by loosing the screw. It is by design, but I not sure why it is designed like that? Maybe to cope with different types of keyboard? I hope it stays at this position and won't fall on the keyboard again. To cope with the raised bar they also put some tape between two boards to make some room. Thats a mickey mouse fix. The missing screw is inside the piano. I can just buy one but I don't want to open the piano myself. As long as the piano works, I am ok with it.

I'm not saying yay or nay against kawai. I have no experience of their products, I can only read what's here about them. I also agree with having James on board means more complaints are heard. I really wish the other dp companies (including Roland) would have someone on the forum also. James is awesome.

Casio, on the other hand, I did own and is not worth the money. The increased amount of complaints on here is alarming.

I've been shifting my attitude of what I buy and who from for awhile. I'm getting more picky and have learned that delaying a purchase to save up for a higher quality, better built and conscientious company is to my benefit. I also don't buy just to buy. I buy what I need and hold on to what I own.

Perhaps I'm just triggered by the words "totally unacceptable " that creeps up in just about any thread and with just about any problem, or perceived problem, be it small or big. It looses its meaning in this way. Let's leave the biggest misses for "totally unacceptable" and smaller issues , that are often fixed and/ or replaced to other less heavy handed terms. I'm no just referring to this thread, but also other reported issues, or misunderstood characteristics (happens too) in other threads. "Totally unacceptable" sounds to me like really unsolvable bad and a huge overall failure of the company involved. Single issues that require replacements or fixes are bad enough in itself and certainly an annoyance , but if dealt with in a proper way , I wonder if "totally unacceptable" is the right qualification . Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion , to me it just sounds rather angry if applied to every incident.

Note: personally I'm not sure if I had a big bulky and heavy DP unpacked and assembled in my room and there's a problem that can be fixed in my place, that I would play the unacceptable card immediately and request an new unit, considering disassembly, packing, transporting / unpacking , assembling the new unit and the hoping there's no other issue on the new unit that requires attention.

Anyway ...over and out. I hope you will enjoy the piano in the end, despite the repair history. I think it's a beautiful DP.

from their site: Every Roland digital piano is carefully assembled one by one. We’ve adopted the “cell production system,” in which one person is responsible for assembling a product from start to finish, increasing efficiency and assuring pride in workmanship and an extraordinarily high standards of quality.

If one company can do this, all of them can do this!

I really think that just expecting to buy something that will need fixing within days or weeks of taking it home is ludicrous. We should expect to get value for our money (and paying a bit more for it is hunky dory in my book.)

The whole disposable culture of goods needs to go.

+1! My Roland FP-7F is beautifully made and hasn't given me a bit of trouble from Day One of ownership.